Limassol’s open market began operating again on Saturday for the first time since the lockdown measures were enforced.
“There is order, safety, calm and people are shopping,” Limassol Mayor Nicos Nicolaides said during a visit to the market.
The municipality was working all week to prepare a plan on re-opening the market. It was fenced off, disinfected, and producers were informed of all the conditions they would have to adhere to and work under, he added.
“These are unprecedented conditions and it requires a lot of effort for people and producers to get used to the idea that we will live under such controlled conditions.”
People were understanding of the restrictive measures in place, shopping without any major problems, Nicolaides said.
The mayor noted police officers and inspectors both from the municipality and the labour office were present.
“I was very strict in some cases even if someone could have argued that the issue was not very serious. God forbid if we have to go back to how things were; that would be a loss for everyone.
“Generally, though, everything worked smoothly, and people were disciplined.”
The opening followed similar moves in Nicosia after the government decided to ease restrictions last week.
All Pentecost (Kataklysmos) celebrations in Limassol have been cancelled due to the ongoing coronavirus situation, the city’s municipality said on Monday.
The festival of the flood marks 50 days after Easter and will fall on June 8 this year. It is traditionally celebrated with fairs held along the waterfront in Cyprus.
However it was announced that the Wine Festival, usually held in late summer, should take place though no dates have been announced.
The EuroMediterranean Festival of Traditional Dances has been postponed and will take place sometime between July and August.
The statement also announced the reopening of the theatres in Limassol.
The Marios Tokas Municipal Garden Theatre will reopen on June 9, along with the open-air theatres at Aristides Koudounaris Park and at Filellinon Street.
Finally, the Pattiheio Theatre, the Cultural Centre Panos Solomonidis, the Papadakis Warehouses Arts Centre and the Second Municipal Market Theatre (also known as Ena Theatre) will all reopen on July 14.
Works to construct a traffic island on Limassol’s Nicos and Despina Pattichi street are set to begin in June but shopkeepers and residents have already said they will put a stop to the works if the project does not include adequate parking spaces.
The contract has been signed and works are expected to start in June, district engineer of the department of public works Thrasos Afamis said on Wednesday, adding that parking spaces will be created where there is available space.
According to Afamis, the issue of expropriations for the creation of additional roadside parking space concerns the local authorities involved, the municipalities of Limassol and Kato Polemidia, which he has asked to go ahead with procedures.
The department of public works proceeds according to plan and has received the approval of the transport minister, Afamis added, stressing the implementation of this project concerns the safety of citizens, as there have been a number of serious and fatal accidents along this part of the road.
When the announcement was made on Wednesday, shopkeepers and residents reiterated the project should be completed and not only done partially, meaning it should include all the parking spaces so that commercial activities do not suffer.
In the midst of the economic crisis caused by the pandemic, they said, such a project would be disastrous for shopkeepers. They warned they will not allow the works to start work, using both legal and other means.
They also demanded once again that the entire project should be redesigned, based on modern methods and practices abroad.
Ankara’s overexposure of the vandalism at Koprulu mosque in Limassol raises the question of how the Christian religious monuments are being treated in the north, Government Spokesman Kyriacos Kousios said on Tuesday.
The spokesman was responding to the widespread condemnation, including by Turkey, of the vandalism at the mosque on Sunday night when petrol bombs were thrown into its premises while the outer wall was vandalised with racist graffiti against Islam and immigrants.
The incident was condemned by President Nicos Anastasiades, Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, the island’s five main religious leaders and also the Turkish foreign ministry and ruling party, among others.
The Turkish foreign ministry called the attack “malicious and heinous” and urged the Cyprus government to act against the perpetrators as soon as possible.
“It is obvious that Islamophobic rhetoric and actions will not contribute to the efforts towards reaching a settlement of the Cyprus issue,” the Turkish ministry said. “It should not be forgotten that such attacks do not only target Muslims but also pose a common threat to all of humanity,” it said.
Kousios told state broadcaster CyBC on Tuesday that such acts against religious monuments were condemnable.
He pointed out, however, that “the overexposure of the incident by Turkey gives us the right to wonder how Turkey and the occupation powers have behaved as regards our sacred places in the occupied areas.”
Kousios said that according to information, the vandalism was carried out by two young people.
He pointed out that their actions “must not be deemed to express the will and views of our people.”
Kousios had said on Monday that Anastasiades had given instructions for an in-depth investigation of the case to bring those responsible to justice.
Limassol mayor Nicos Nicolaides, who visited the mosque on Tuesday along with other municipal officials, expressed willingness to install lighting and security cameras to enhance security in the area. He added he would be meeting the Limassol police chief and the head of the service managing Turkish Cypriot properties on the matter.
“Phenomena of the kind that promote xenophobia and racism are foreign to us as we are a hospitable society that supports and relies on the mutual respect and cooperation of all,” Nicolaides said.
He said his municipality will do everything possible to prevent violence, antisocial behaviour and xenophobia wherever they come from, as they pose a risk to social cohesion.
Akinci, but also Turkish Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Ersin Tatar and ‘foreign minister’ Kudret Ozersay called on the government to find those who did it.
Turkey’s ruling party AKP also condemned the attack and called the perpetrators “enemies of Islam.”
The religious leaders of the five main faith communities of Cyprus – Greek Orthodox, Muslim, Armenian Orthodox, Maronite and Latin Catholic – condemned all acts of vandalism and disrespect done to sacred places of worship.
Turkey’s ruling party AKP also condemned the attack and called the perpetrators “enemies of Islam.”
Party spokesperson Omer Celik also called on the Cypriot government to take actions against policies and media which are fuelling hatred against Islamism.
An explosive device detonated at the entrance of a shop in Limassol early on Thursday.
The explosion happened at 1.45am.
Police officers who rushed to the scene found it was caused by an improvised device which had been placed at the base of the glass window at the entrance.
The blast caused extensive damage to the shop window and the interior of the building while a nearby house was also damaged.
The scene was cordoned off and investigations continue.
A group of Limassol-based owners of clubs and other businesses offering dancing and music entertainment that still do not know when they can reopen on Tuesday called on authorities for financial support as they face an uncertain future.
The group said they are owners of businesses offering music and dancing such as Greek popular music, music stages, clubs and discos that were forced to temporarily close due to the government decrees against the spread of coronavirus.
They said they believes their problems also concern all other business owners within the same field in other districts.
“We were the first to close and we remain closed until further notice,” they said, adding that this could drag on for another three to four months.
The government has allowed some businesses to resume operations such as restaurants, pubs and bars but no announcements have been made yet about other businesses where large crowds gather and where there is dancing such as clubs.
The group said their prolonged inactivity has led to numerous problems, mainly financial, due to the high rents they pay, licence fees that exceed €3,000 per year, municipal fees but also payments to their suppliers.
They also pointed out that given their large size of their spaces even when they are able to resume operations, allowing in only 75 people, the current maximum allowed indoors, will not cover even basic expenses.
The group called for financial and other support so that they can settle their large financial obligations created by them having to close.
“We are companies that employ a large number of people (families) and special groups such as musicians, singers, DJs, bartenders, waiters,” they said, adding that if they close down, these people will not be able to easily find work elsewhere.
They said they are part of the tourism industry and they host, in addition to locals, many tourists during the summer.
Shop owners and residents of Nicos and Despina Pattichi street in Limassol who are against the construction of a central traffic island will stage a protest at the transport ministry on Friday, armed with a list of different proposals.
According to the transport ministry, the construction aims to reduce the number of fatal and serious traffic accidents on the street.
The shop owners however say if the project does not provide for an adequate number of parking places they will be ruined.
Last month they warned last month they will oppose the road works “using both legal and other means”.
They suggest installing speed bumps where there are pedestrian crossings, pruning trees which block the vision of drivers, improving road lighting, placing traffic signals and cameras and increasing patrols.
In addition, they demand that a single yellow line be placed along the road on both sides to allow the short-term parking of suppliers and consumers, as well as the immediate allocation of parking spaces which, as they claim, “are illegally taken over by the municipality of Limassol and turned into parks, sidewalks, outdoor cafés and greenery.”
The contract for the creation of the traffic island was signed in May and construction is scheduled to start in about two weeks.
After the contract was signed district engineer of the department of public works Thrasos Afamis said parking spaces will be created where there is available space.
MPs from Limassol complained to the government on Tuesday over stalled plans to develop the western part of the coastal city, particularly the stretch know as Lady’s Mile.
Lawmakers were vexed to learn that the reconstruction of the decrepit road on the famous beach is not among the priorities of the interior ministry.
“Sadly the state has not managed to organise Lady’s Mile into a tourist beach; it is a unique beach, perhaps the longest in the eastern Mediterranean with 6km of sand,” Disy MP Andreas Kyprianou complained.
“The state has not carried out mild infrastructures, such as providing electricity, sewerage, a road or parking spaces.”
It is precisely the absence of a functional road that is contributing to damaging the wetlands there, as cars passing through churn up dust.
Kyprianou said that reconstructing the road would require an environmental impact assessment as well as the drafting of building plans.
“But how is it that these procedures have not been completed 11 years on?” he asked.
Calling Lady’s Mile beach “a victim of bureaucracy,” Kyprianou said he has personally spoken with the interior minister to try and push through development of the area.
He suggested Lady’s Mile fall under an agreement between President Nicos Anastasiades and former British Prime Minister David Cameron to develop an area extending from the old harbour to Pissouri.
For his part, deputy Costas Costa of main opposition Akel said legislators discovered that the development project was not among the priorities of the interior ministry.
“So many years later, it’s clear that the government is dragging its feet, it lacks the political will and essentially does not want this project to go ahead.”
He said that bizarrely, Limassol municipality has been asked to carry out the environmental impact assessment and the building design for the road.
However, the area in question is outside the municipality’s territorial jurisdiction.
A 66-year-old woman is in hospital in critical condition with head and body injuries after being attacked and robbed by two men in her Limassol apartment on Sunday morning.
The incident took place at around 8 am.
The two perpetrators tied the woman and beat her demanding the money she had in her apartment.
Limassol police spokesman, Ioannis Soteriades, told the Cyprus News Agency, it seems the robbers were waiting for the woman outside her apartment’s door.
“As soon as she stepped outside to take out the rubbish, they grabbed her, led her inside the house, tied and gagged her and beat her mercilessly demanding money,” he said.
According to reports, the robbers hit her on the head with a knuckle duster. After she fainted, they searched all over the apartment and took cash, jewellery and other valuable items.
After they left, the woman was able to free one of her hands, grab her phone and call her son, who found the 66-year-old in very bad shape and alerted authorities.
She was taken to hospital with head and body injuries. The woman is currently intubated. Her condition is considered critical but stable.
Soteriades said one of the robbers had a Cypriot accent while the other was speaking in broken Greek.
CNA reports that the two robbers are believed to have broken into the apartment building through a window. An accomplice picked them up with a car after leaving the building, reports said.
Inaction over improving a popular Limassol beach in an environmentally sensitive area is doing more harm than good
By Andria Kades
A plan to make Lady’s Mile beach in Limassol more accessible to the public has been dragging on for 15 years, harming the environment and businesses and denying the public the chance to easily access one of the city’s nicest beaches.
Currently, the road to Lady’s Mile is a decrepit dirt road, ploughed up with bumps and potholes. In a bid to avoid it, many end up driving in the wetlands, ruining the sand dunes and natural habitats that live there.
“The whole area is the most important wetland area of the entire island and people are driving through it,” Lefkios Sergides, executive director of Terra Cypria, an NGO focused on environment and conservation awareness told the Sunday Mail.
Lady’s Mile is adjacent to the Akrotiri wetlands which includes the Akrotiri salt lake.
The absence of proper parking often encourages people to drive right up to the sea, particularly those with 4×4 vehicles, which also affects nesting turtles that end up leaving the area and the eggs in the sea, he added.
Residents for years have voiced their irritation that a more accessible road can’t be built that makes it easier for people to get to the beach and less destructive on people’s vehicles.
Yet all along, a master plan outlining an environmentally friendly road with cycling paths, and provisions for electricity and sewerage has been garnering dust, yet to be implemented.
“We are witnessing the death of this project because of bureaucracy,” Disy MP Andreas Kyprianou told the Sunday Mail.
During a House commerce committee session on Tuesday, MPs quoted a letter from the interior ministry saying that Lady’s Mile was not a priority.
“How is it when the government wants to give the green light for a private development, they get the licence right away?” asked Akel MP Costas Costa. Yet this project has been dragging on for years, he added.
It also came as a surprise to deputies to find out that the ministry, in a letter to Limassol municipality, said if they wanted to carry out a building design for the road they could and would also have to do an environmental impact assessment.
According to Costa, not only did this come a year later but Limassol municipality has no jurisdiction over the area which lies in the British bases.
The cost of the project during a House commerce meeting last year was estimated at around €6m.
The dirt road to Lady’s Mile beach with the salt lake to the right and the beach’s first The first restaurant in the background
The Sunday Mail understands that the municipality had volunteered to carry out the building design so as to get the project done faster in a bid to help, but this is now just causing a further delay because responsibility cannot be directly pinned to the government.
Limassol mayor Nicos Nicolaides was quoted last week as telling Limassol based radio station Channel 6, that the local authority had reached out to the town planning department several times but failed to hear back and therefore could not proceed.
While some have voiced concerns over developing the area for fear of harming the environment, the irony is that the inaction is causing more harm than good.
Stergides said some years back, Terra Cypria had been invited by the town planning department to offer feedback on the plan.
“It had very good parameters for good coexistence of humans and nature.”
The road was to be made in an environmentally friendly manner. Rather than asphalt, it would be a permeable surface, made by plastic sheets and sand to settle it into the ground.
It also provided for a cycling path.
“We don’t want to see a commercialised place, we don’t want a second McKenzie,” he said, referring to the busy beach in Larnaca.
According to Stergides, the sand dunes are habitats for lizards and the spring footed lizards which are endemic species in Cyprus. The wetlands are also home to nesting birds like the Kentish plover.
“There needs to be some control over the situation.”
Responding to previously voiced concerns over lighting in the area should it become more accessible to the public, Stergides recalls that street lights were not included in the plan but instead reflectors, similar to what one may see in low lit roads.
In 2017, restaurant owners on the 6km stretch of the beach protested not only because of the absence of a functional road but also lack of basic facilities. Businesses use generators to provide themselves with electricity. There are no public bathrooms or showers available.
Instead, the six restaurant owners offer their own facilities to all people on the beach.
Three years ago, owner of Captain’s Cabin and Aplostra restaurants at the beach Filios Demetriou told the Sunday Mail the that the issue of Lady’s Mile first came up some 10 years ago.
“Parliament discussed it and every couple of years it’s brought up again,” he told the paper.
Speaking to the paper this week, he said the sentiment hasn’t changed.
“We’ve invested our own capital in this, what has the government done for us? They only take taxes but what have they actually done?
“We have no sewerage. I was forced to make my own biological waste treatment…we’ve been abandoned by the state.”
Some of the restaurant owners that could afford to have paid tens of thousands to have an electricity network. They have relied on generators for years.
“But When the bases fly helicopters over the area every day and over the beach, that’s not a problem for the environment though is it?” he added.
Disy MP Kyprianou also highlighted the health and safety concerns of dealing with erratic electricity supply at a restaurant in Cyprus’ sweltering summer. “There’s food in the fridge, you can imagine the problems with unstable electricity.”
If the plan however is so good and the existing problems so major, what then is the cause of the hold up? One source who did not want to be named said possibly because the project costs this much, there may be squabbling over who gets to carry it out – though with objective calls for tender that shouldn’t be a problem.
Another conjecture suggests that beaches down Limassol’s main coastline, from the centre to the tourist area are very profitable to the local authority and there may be something more sinister in keeping Lady’s Mile less attractive.
Nonetheless, Lady’s Mile manages to attract thousands of visitors.
According to Kyprianou, the matter is up for discussion again at the House on July 14 and it is hoped the deputy tourism minister and interior minister will attend.
Ruling Disy’s Limassol branch on Friday welcomed the suggestion by the party’s municipal council group to rename a street in the coastal town in honour of former President Glafcos Clerides.
Disy, which is marking 44 years since its founding by Clerides, who died in 2013 at age 94, said that the suggestion concerned renaming part of the coastal road linking the Limassol Marina with the new harbour, also known as Aktaia Odos, into Glafcos Clerides Avenue or Street.
Renaming Aktaia Odos in honour of Clerides “is a small but dignified tribute to this politician,” the group said in their letter to Mayor Nicos Nicolaides.
The Disy municipal council group justified their suggestion based on the fact that Clerides came from the Limassol district but at the same time, his contribution to the country was immense. They also referred to Clerides’ love of the sea.
According to the group, the road in question, which is part of the new vision for a modern Limassol, “symbolises, reflects and combines all the elements characterising Glafcos Clerides as a politician and head of state.”
Clerides was from Agros, a mountainous village in the Limassol district. He served as Cyprus’ fourth president from 1993 to 2003.
The 18th century Ayios Mamas village church was badly damaged after a fire caused by a lit candle broke out on Thursday afternoon and again early Friday morning.
The fire brigade responded to the initial call around 5:30 pm and the fire was apparently extinguished.
But the fire reignited around 1:40 am Friday to which the fire brigade responded with two fire engines.
The second fire was eventually extinguished but the church’s roof, wall and iconostasis were seriously damaged.
The church, located at the Ayios Mamas village was built towards the end of the 18th century.
Residents said they were devastated over the destruction particularly over damage to some 19th century icons. They criticised the fire service for not leaving firefighters in place to ensure the fire did not flare up again.
Fire service spokesman Andreas Kettis told media the crew that responded to the call, after putting out the blaze, had helped the priest remove old icons.
Kettis said that the crew checked before leaving with the help of specialised equipment to make sure the fire would not reignite but that they had not spotted anything suspicious.
Kettis said that perhaps a burned particle inside the iconostasis may have caused the reignition.
The church had been renovated around two years ago.
President Nicos Anastasiades expressed his sorrow over the damage to the historic church. The government would help to restore it said as it “is part of our cultural heritage”.
Shop owners on Nicos and Despina Pattichi Street in Limassol blocked off a section of the road on Saturday as a mark of protest after their alternative proposals was rejected.
The main issue of contention is the creation of a traffic island that the transport ministry has proposed but shop owners said this will adversely affect business.
The shop owners blocked off the road at 10:30am and said they would escalate measures if the state moves forward with the construction of the traffic island.
They called on the contractor to not to do the work.
“We invite whichever contractor took on the project to not come and build here, as he will build, and we will ruin it,” they said.
The organisational secretary of Povek, the confederation of craftsmen and shopkeepers, Kyriacos Moustakas said they would block the contractor from conducting the works in the same way they blocked the road.
Last week, the transport minister said they could submit their own, alternative proposal which could be reviewed. According to the shop owners, it was discussed on Tuesday with the relevant road transport authority and the municipalities for Limassol and Kato Polemidia.
An expert prepared a study providing alternatives without a traffic island, but it was rejected.
Following the development, spokesman for the group Polys Kattasis said on Thursday that as a first measure, shop owners would close the northern part of the street on Saturday.
The government maintains that the project has been pending for way too long and the proposal which includes the creation of an island will avoid road deaths in the area.
The contract with the construction company has already been signed.
Virologists have said the situation in Limassol is ‘extremely worrying’ after a cluster of cases has surfaced there.
Five cases were identified on Saturday which were contacts of people who tested positive in Limassol earlier in the week. Four are contacts of one of the two people tested positive on Friday.
The fifth case is a contact of one of the people who tested positive on Thursday, which was itself a contact of a woman who tested positive on Tuesday. This is the fourth person linked to Tuesday’s case that concerned a Cypriot woman who was referred to take a test after displaying symptoms.
Speaking to Sigma on Saturday night virologist Leontios Kostrikis said there is a significant upward trend in cases and an active spread of the virus is occurring among multinational workers in the city and in busy places.
Asked if this might lead to a local lockdown, he said that is not currently on the table by anything is possible.
Professor of Microbiology/Molecular Virology at the University of Nicosia Medical School Dr Petros Karayiannis stressed the occurrence of so-called orphan cases – where people test positive for the virus without having had contact with known cases or a travel history – in the community and specifically in Limassol is a cause for concern.
“At the moment, there seems to be an outbreak of infection in Limassol,” he told Sigmalive, adding that one measure to detect other orphan cases is by carrying out 1,000 to 2,000 random sample tests in Limassol.
On Saturday Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou announced that 3,000 random tests will be given in all districts following the surfacing of ‘orphan’ cases in Limassol.
The testing will start within the coming days, the minister said, expressing his concerns over the detection of new local cases.
“The virus has not been eradicated from the community yet,” Ioannou told the Cyprus News Agency.
Ioannou said that it is important that people who had symptoms and tested positive for the virus acted appropriately and contacted their doctor.
“We want to examine the extent of the virus’ presence in the community,” he said. He added that more details on the random tests would be announced within the coming days.
On the possibility of local lockdowns, Ioannou said his ministry was monitoring the situation very carefully.
“Right now, there are no thoughts for a localised lockdown, since we believe that the situation can be managed,” he said.
Ioannou pointed out that the good epidemiological picture Cyprus has achieved so far depends exclusively on individual behaviour. “No protocol, no checks from relevant authorities will have a good outcome if everyone’s behaviour is not as responsible, mature and disciplined as it was in previous months,” the minister said.
Following the recent domestic incidents of Covid-19 identified in Limassol, especially the five employees at Wagamama in Limassol Marina, the health ministry on Sunday urged people to be cautious when visiting busy places.
The ministry stressed that all individuals have the social responsibility to protect public health to maintain the island’s good epidemiological picture.
“Reintroduction of restrictive measures is the last resort and we must all prevent such a possibility,” a ministry announcement said.
It is extremely important, despite the relaxation of lockdown measures, that in all cases individual precautionary measures are taken by all citizens, especially when visiting restaurants, supermarkets, department stores, shopping malls, etc where social distancing measures cannot be easily applied, it added.
It is also reminded that the use of a mask is mandatory for employees working in customer service positions, such as cashiers, waiters and chefs. At the same time, the ministry said, staff working and on breaks need to respect social distancing measures.
Regarding the specific restaurant in Limassol Marina, all employees have undergone coronavirus tests and the area has been disinfected for two consecutive days, observing relevant ministry protocols.
Five cases were identified on Saturday which were contacts of people who tested positive in Limassol earlier in the week. Four are contacts of one of the two people tested positive on Friday.
The fifth is a contact of one of the people who tested positive on Thursday, which was itself a contact of a woman who tested positive on Tuesday. This is the fourth person linked to Tuesday’s case that concerned a Cypriot woman who was referred to take a test after displaying symptoms.
A mobile unit in Limassol will increase the number of tests carried out there in restaurants, virologist Dr Leontios Kostrikis said on Monday, as the city’s mayor said a localised lockdown was something he did not want to think about.
Speaking to CyBC radio, Kostrikis said there are currently four chains in Limassol, three of which are active and the fourth which is unknown.
“The epicentre is at the Limassol Marina and began at the gym. This case spread in society and then a case was found at a restaurant in the marina and then a shipping company in Limassol.
“They seem to be independent for now,” Kostrikkis said but the infections seem to have started with foreigners who work in shipping companies in Limassol.
He said that at the Marina restaurant four cases were delivery employees. “If everyone wore masks then we wouldn’t have these infections,” he said.
Currently, all scenarios are on the table, he added and as a first step there will be an increase in testing at Limassol restaurants, with a mobile unit collecting samples.
Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency (CNA), Limassol Mayor Nicos Nicolaides called on the public to behave seriously and responsibly “to protect everything we have built all this time in Limassol.”
As a last result would be repeating measures of the past, the mayor said. “I don’t even want to talk about a lockdown.”
“It isn’t a matter of me being worried, we are concerned. We are concerned until this whole situation with the coronavirus blows over.”
Asked why he thought there was a spike in the number of cases in certain points of Limassol, Nicolaides said people across Cyprus, not only in Limassol, relaxed.
Limassol in particular carried an additional risk “as it is a city with heavy traffic to and from abroad, due to the fact that there are foreigners who work and travel back and forth.”
The mayor said there may be consequent announcements on action to be taken, perhaps making mention to groups of people that appear to have “let go” a bit too much.
“Seriousness, responsibility, individual protection measures and social distancing are needed, to protect everything we have built in Limassol.”
Nicolaides called on people with symptoms to contact their GP.
Last week, clusters of cases were found in Limassol, with five employees in Wagamama restaurant testing positive.
Five cases were identified on Saturday which were contacts of people who tested positive in Limassol earlier in the week. Four are contacts of one of the two people tested positive on Friday.
The fifth case is a contact of one of the people who tested positive on Thursday, which was itself a contact of a woman who tested positive on Tuesday.
The ceremony to install the second ‘recycling fish’ of Limassol, a work of art to encourage recycling, took place in Ayios Tychonas on Friday, it was announced on Monday.
“The incomparably beautiful work of art, by the well-known artist Apostolos Pantelis, sponsored by the pharmaceutical company Medochemie, now adorns the Onisilos beach in Limassol,” the announcement said.
The aim of the installation is to create a new mentality and culture and thus to put a brake on the irreparable destruction of our oceans.
This is the fifth recycling fish placed on the beaches of Cyprus. This ecological tool can already be found on the beach of the Limassol nautical club, on Bania beach in Paphos, on the Finikoudes beach in Larnaca and the Landa beach in Ayia Napa.
The ceremony took place in the presence of the mayors of Ayios Athanasios and Mesa Geitonia, the head of the community council of Ayios Tychonas and representatives of the Medochemie company.
About 300 Limassol residents have already been tested for coronavirus in the two mobile units at Gregori Afxentiou square in front of the Limassol district office and in Molos set up after a spike in cases in the city.
The results of the tests are expected on Friday and will give a better epidemiological picture of the situation, Limassol Mayor Nicos Nicolaides said.
On Wednesday, the Limassol municipality clinched an agreement to carry out 5,000 tests on local residents, while cabinet approved a proposal by the health ministry to carry out 3,000 random tests in places with large gatherings such as malls, supermarkets and other areas. Out of those 3,000 tests, 1,000 will be carried out in Limassol.
The 300 tests carried out on Wednesday were part of the 5,000 tests on local residents organised by the Limassol municipality.
“It is a satisfactory number and we want to urge as many people as possible to do a test,” said Nicolaides, who also reminded that 2,000 tests would be open to the broader public.
“Our intention is to assess the situation in Limassol as soon as possible. Hopefully by tomorrow we will have our first answers and we will decide what is best to do,” he added.
“The bet is to have the tests as soon as possible, so that tomorrow we have a first picture, which will be an epidemiologically useful picture.”
Meanwhile, Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou called for an emergency meeting to take place on Thursday morning, with the epidemiology team to assess the situation and developments during the past few days.
A source within the health ministry told CNA that Wednesday’s results, that saw 13 new cases within a day, raised concerns.
The advisory committee was also scheduled to meet with President Nicos Anastasiades on Friday.
The health ministry on Sunday announced that 26 coronavirus cases were detected, including the 15 announced earlier in the day.
Eleven of the new cases were detected on Sunday among 1,977 lab tests.
They concern one person who arrived from Athens on Saturday and three passengers arriving from Thessaloniki on Friday. One of them had arrived from Germany via Thessaloniki. All four of them were randomly tested at the Larnaca airport.
One case concerns a person who arrived at the Paphos airport on Saturday from Mykonos.
Another person arrived at the Larnaca airport from Zurich on Sunday.
Two cases concern people who tested privately and one is a close contact of a person already infected by the virus.
One pregnant woman was diagnosed after being tested before her admission to hospital for labour while the last case is a person who had symptoms.
Of the 15 cases detected late on Saturday and were initially announced on Sunday morning, 10 were among people tested as part of the 3,000 random tests provided by the government and all concern Limassol: six of them are random cases and three are contacts of people who tested positive at an earlier stage and are part of the cluster that started from a person who had arrived from the US. The tenth case is still being investigated.
The other five are people who tested privately: four of them are part of the US arrival cluster and one is a Portuguese football player of Doxa FC. He arrived from Portugal on Thursday.
The total number of cases in Cyprus is now at 1,150.
